I feel like a stranger, anyway!  Wanted to quickly share a few things before I race off again, and I'm happy to say...my long string, about a month and a 1/2, of crazy CRAZY weeks is just about to wrap up.  After Sunday, I'll hopefully be breathing a huge sigh of satisfied relief.  Just say a little prayer, if you would, that an approaching winter storm doesn't put a kink in our dress rehearsal plans for the kids at church this evening, as well as the program on Sunday, and my oldest's Christmas Spectacular with the high school music department that day, too!  Wouldn't have traded my special Christmas projects for anything, but I'm so ready to sit back and enjoy the normal hustle and bustle of the holidays.  For starters, I'm late in sharing this card I made for Precious Remembrance a couple weeks ago...

The card on the PR blog was actually photographed at our resort at Disney over Thanksgiving break.  I desperately needed sunlight for it and just couldn't find it here at home that last 24 hours before the trip.  It was made using the Border Tape 1 set and the Positive Thoughts set.  Today, you'll find this card over at the PR blog...

...using the same sets. Next up...yesterday was nursing home day...

There's my dear sweet Maddy and myself.  Can't photograph many of the participating residents for confidentiality reasons, but I was glad to get this shot of the two of us to share with you.  She is THE sweetest Christian woman...Oh, how I've enjoyed getting to know her!  Here are the cards we made...

If you are a newer follower...I go once a month to make cards with the residents at a local nursing home. This time I had 20 cards prepared and ready to assemble.  I pre-stamp what I can, and have everything pre-cut and ready to go. This time they chose the sentiment for the inside, and that was all they needed to stamp. They also got to choose one of 3 snowmen (or two smaller ones) from a K&Co set of layered die cut stickers. And...you know...more than likely, there are residents in a facility near you that would look forward this same thing!  You should give it a try!  It would make a great new goal for the new year...and I promise you...you would love it as much as they do!

And before I go...allow me, if you would...Here's my Mrs. Claus and her hubby...

Her outfit was another Christmas project...

One of our favorite Disney sights...

What they do to that castle with music and lights is amazing!  Everyone should get to see it once!
My Jonah boy...

...all snuggled up in his new hat...waiting to head back home to chilly temps.
And the big boy (Caleb)...

...marching up the street at Hollywood  Studios to perform with his band and 5 others from across the country.
I could go on and on...but I'll spare you!  Just know it has been QUITE the holiday season with memories we'll never forget!!!  Thanks so much for letting me share!  Have a great day and thanks so much for your visit!!!
~geri~

Hello everyone!  I've got some great news...and I hope you are as excited as I am that one of my favorite challenges is back...FUSION!!! Yippee!!!  A new challenge is up and you've got lots of time to enter...

This one will take us through the rest of the year...along with an open DT call...more excitement!!!  Then the new team and regular challenges will be up and running every two weeks to start off 2014.  Feel free to create for the challenge, or, if you love the challenge as much as I do, you'll want to check the blog for details of applying for the DT...that's a separate process.

Now...I found myself in a bit of a pickle for this challenge, as I had forgotten that I'd loaned my Christmas stamps and cartridges to a friend, thinking I was done with most of my Christmas creating.  Crafty time is on short supply around here, and the Festive Friday blog had wrapped up it's final challenge, so I passed my things along to someone else with a little more time on her hands and a mission to get her cards done.  Went downstairs at the last minute to whip something up for this re-opening challenge and thought,..."Oh...my golly...I don't have much to work with!"  So I did the best I could with what I had (Hero Arts wreath, PTI impression plate and die and a misc. sentiment), and used the photo for my inspiration...

 I just know the new year will settle my schedule down, (It has to...can't keep this pace up for much longer!) and I'll be ready for a fun...new...creative year with FUSION!!!

Be sure to check the rest of the DT's creations for more inspiration!  They are all as excited as I am to be back!  Thanks so much for stopping in, and have a great day!!!

Kelly 

Lynn
Lyndal
Dannielle (guest DT)

FUSION

~geri~

Hello, Friends!!!
Excited to post my final project for Festive Friday, 2013 today!  It has been such a fun year, and a joy to create for Christmas all year long and get to know so many who enjoyed doing the same thing!!!  For this final challenge, players can choose their favorite challenge inspiration from the year, and create as many projects as they like.  Two prizes are being offered up...A grand prize of a $60 online gift certificate for a random regular player...a player who enters and has played in at least 15 of the 20 challenges.  Then a $20 gift certificate will go to one random player from all those who have created for this final challenge...even if it's your first time with us!!!

Several of the challenge inspirations were considered for my final project...

...obviously the 'bird element' challenge (birdies are a favorite for me)...the 'star' challenge would have also worked here.  Overall I went for a peaceful feeling, though...

...and kept things clean and simple...

I used my Cricut for the branch, birds and nest.  My PTI Birds and Blooms set, which I haven't thanked Marcie enough for, includes a nest image that fit perfectly on my Cricut nest...I was hoping it would.  My little window to the night-time sky was created with an old Spellbinder die.

And that's it folks!!!  That's really IT!!!  (until next year anyway!)  The inspiration from the rest of the team is perfection, as always...so honored to work with these gals!!!  So be sure to pop over to the blog if you need a jump start!  Can't wait to see what is created for this final challenge and who the winner will be from our faithful players!  You have 2 weeks!!!  Good luck everyone!!!

~geri~

Popping in quickly to let you know I have a card up at the Precious Remembrance blog today using the new DIY set...

I'm a little late with that post...the 'busy-ness' continues here, as hubby is out of town for most of the week and I've got my hands full in an overdue home dec. project, nursing home cards, and the kids' Christmas play at church.  And I have to share a little story that has made me chuckle a couple times this week as I've raced from project to project...although it didn't exactly make me chuckle at the time.  There was a teacher's assistant filling in for the secretary at my kid's school earlier in the week, when I was signing in to drop off my kid's lunches...she had seen me dropping the kids off earlier that morning as she was walking into the building. As I was signing in, she asked..."so did you go home and go back to bed this morning?"  (What did she just say???)  I hope the look on my face wasn't too nasty-looking as I processed her question and finally said...'um...no'.  And I wanted to say...'and I was so disappointed that I couldn't seem to find time for my soaps and bon-bons today, either!'...but, I didn't;)  So I do want to thank the ever-SWEET Dyane of Precious Remembrance for understanding! She is one of THE sweetest gals out there!  (She's a busy mom, herself!  And she's a great 'cheerleader', to boot!!!)  If all 'bosses' were that nice...I think there would be an awful lot of happy and motivated employees in the world;)  Thanks, Dyane!!!

Thanks, everyone, for dropping in!!!  Have a great weekend!!!

~geri~

Hey everyone!  Seems like an ETERNITY since I've posted!!!  Wouldn't want to miss today, though...Dyane has two new sets in the shop at Precious Remembrance!  And...to celebrate...she's hosting a little blog hop!  Two lucky winners will get to check out a new set for free!!!  Here they are...

Border Tape #1

and...

...DIY!

I've used the DIY set for today's project.  LOVE the little paint spatters...

I added some glossy accents there...and the cool chevron looking border!  I had fun adding some color to that...

...pencils and water...the rest is pretty straight forward!  Now...if you'd like a chance to win one of these sets, just leave a comment on the designers blogs and at the PR blog...you have until this Sunday night! Here's the list...

Precious Remembrance
Kim Duran
Geri Freeman (that's me!)
Kim Bell
Lisa Elton
Sue Lelli

Happy hopping, friends!!!
~geri~

Hey, everyone!  Happy to pop in on a beautiful Fall day in Indiana...although the temps have been more like Winter here;)  I wanted to quickly share a couple cards for Festive Friday.  The first card was for the previous 'Whimsical' challenge...had no time to post it then...

There's an example (I didn't say a good one;) of making do with what you have...cause I don't have a lot of 'whimsy' in my stash;)  Always fun to get creative and have to think outside my little box!

The next one was more my style to create...

The current challenge at Festive Friday is to include a wreath element in your design.  I pulled out that new Fresh Cut Florals set (WPlus9) again.  (I think you can count on seeing this one lots from me!!!)  I used a little trio of leaves from that set to create my wreath, and used the bird and nest from Birds and Blooms (PTI) to embellish it.  The berries are the flower center from Fresh Cut Florals, and the string holding the star is from PTI's Merry Little Christmas...

...as well as the sentiment.  You can see I've kept it simple and let my little dressed out wreath be the star of the show!  Here's another star that's been keeping me busy lately...my first born baby boy...

He heads off to semi-state in that marching band uniform tomorrow, hoping to advance to the final state competition the following weekend.  Like it or not, you can bet I'll be keeping you posted!

Hope you all enjoy your weekend!  And I hope to have a little more crafting/blogging time when band season is over...before the holidays hit!  In the mean time, I guess I'll just ask that you forgive me for my absence here and at your blogs.

Thanks so much for stopping in!

~geri~

Hello everyone!  Here with new FUSION challenge inspiration!  Finally...a chance to play with the colors of Fall...(and I had to scramble to do THAT!!!)...

Not that this is necessarily a Fall color challenge...I was just READY, with so little time for Fall crafting these days.  I put my Fresh Cut Florals to work!  (WPlus9) Finally got a set and knew I could still use them in Fall creations with the sweet berries that were included...

This set did NOT dissappoint!  I LOVED playing with it!  Settled on that simple little number up there to fuse the sketch and photo inspiration.  I've got to run...so little time for computer these days...but I hope you'll visit the rest of the team and the FUSION blog for all the details of the challenge!  (Heading off to band regionals tomorrow!!!  YIKES...getting nervous!!!)

Amy

Kelly

Lyndal

Lynn

Stacey

Thanks so much for stopping in today!!!

~geri~

Happy Friday, crafters!!!  I'm sharing a card over at Precious Remembrance using the Holiday Wishes set...

My final post with that set...can't wait to see what Dyane has coming!
And it's time for a new Festive Friday challenge for a project with a whimsical theme, but for some reason, I can't seem to grab that graphic.  You'll have to head to the blog to check it out, along with more inspiration from the other gals.  Here's mine...

I've used some older paper and die cut stickers. Although I didn't use it on this card, one of the coordinating papers has sweet little reindeer almost identical to the one I've created here with my Cricut.  Those little reindeer and the other whimsical images served as my inspiration today!

You're getting off easy today...I'm so tired I'm having trouble willing my fingers to type, and keeping my head up and eyes open...so I'm off!  I appreciate your visit and wish you a wonderful weekend!

~geri~

Hey, Everyone!!!  Time for new FUSION inspiration...

I chose to go with the photo inspiration for this brand new challenge...I used the colors of pink and gray...a little darker...a little paler of each...and went with a birthday theme...

That's just a little layered punched flower. The petite leaves are from a WPlus9 set, and the sentiment and tiny pink flower are both from PTI sets.  You can see I used an impression plate (PTI) to add some pretty texture to the card face...

...which is slightly smaller than normal.  The card is 4" wide rather than 4 1/4", and just taking that 1/4" off the sides went a long way, with the elements/stamping used, in making it appear taller and slimmer...just not quite so chunky looking.  I felt it added to the elegant feel of the card.  I LIKE this one, gals...hope you do, too!  The ladies below all have additional inspiration for you you won't want to miss!

Amy

Kelly

Lyndal

Lynn

Stacey

Head to the FUSION blog for the rest of the challenge details!

Thanks so much for dropping in today!!!

~geri~

Happy Sunday, everyone!  If you follow me, you know I don't often post on Sunday, and I don't usually get much posted besides my Precious Remembrance, Fusion and Festive Friday projects...but when I saw the challenge at Simon Says to incorporate one of Simon's exclusive products...I had to play along.  I've only recently discovered them (SS), (Yes...I've been under a rock) and most of the little I was able to purchase were Simon exclusives...they just looked so fun and versatile to me...and I've NOT been disappointed!!! Both of my projects today use the Expressions for You set (stamps/die), and the Plenty of Hearts set (stamps/dies)...

You can see I used the 'you' die and the largest heart stamp/die pretty similarly on both projects, but the projects themselves are really pretty different...here's the first...

I wanted to play with layering the hearts on that one.  And on the next, I wanted to play with layering the different styles of the word 'you' that come in the 'You' stamp set...

I'm not totally happy with the layering/stamping there...but I decided there's no 'perfect', and I could live with what I had;).  I sure could have used more sunlight for my photos, too, but there's not much to be found today!  That's OK, though...we really needed the rain!

And I guess that's it! Thanks for joining me as I shared these products I so love!!!

~geri~

Happy Friday, one and all!!!  I have two festive projects to share today!  The first is for Festive Friday's brand new challenge starting today...

Yes...you need to include a star in your project!  I had to fuss around with this one for a bit, only to come up with somewhat of an 'understated' design...

This one was hard to photograph!  I've used PTI's Rustic Cream cardstock...it has a real creamy, warm look that certainly doesn't show here.  There's a sliver of cream glitter paper at the bottom of the gray panel, and that darker gray panel is framed in by a pale gray one.  And that little star...it's an oldie!!!  Probably one of the first clear sets I ever bought!

Hope you'll join us with some starry creations of your own!  If you need more inspiration...just head over to the blog...the rest of the designers never disappoint!  It's fun to watch the list of participants grow as it gets closer to the holidays!

Next I have a peek of a brighter, bolder Christmas card...

You'll find the rest of this one using the new Holiday Wishes set at the Precious Remembrance blog!

Thanks so much for stopping today!

Geri

No matter how hard I try...I can't seem to find a way to slow life down!!!:)  Here it is, the end of another busy week...gone like THAT!!!  My parents always said...the older ya get...the faster it goes...and my breaks don't seem to be working!!!;)  Oh, well...It IS Friday, and this one brings a new FUSION challenge...

What do you think about that photo inspiration???  I had to go with those fun, funky, retro images and colors, and see what I could come up with...

I knew I wanted clean lines for a 'modern' look.  Are you old enough to remember when everyone wanted everything to be 'modern'?  I know I'm dating myself, but...I am!!!  I wanted to mimic some of the clean retro shapes, too, but the best I could do was with my PTI Funky Flowers...the little 'stamen' centers from that set made me think of the green flower in the photo inspiration.  I used that repeatedly, and then sponged on ink to softly color the insides with green and aqua...

I really, REALLY wanted to use red enamel dots, but...I have none!!!  So I switched out a true red polka dot banner for the softer, pink-y red one actually on my card...my deep pink dots worked fine with that, and still kept the color scheme similar.  I really kinda like how this one turned out.  I think it has a really cheery and fun look!  I enjoyed it so much, I tried another...

. 

...in another color scheme, just for fun.  (Really loved the fun Paper Smooches sentiments for both of these!!!)  I'm linking this one up to Addicted to CAS's 'get well' challenge.  And that's all she wrote, folks! You'll find lots more FUSION inspiration at the blog, so be sure to visit to see the rest of the DT's fun cards!  Thanks so much for taking the time to drop in today!

~geri~

Hey, everyone!  Super quick post today!  There's a new challenge up at Festive Friday...a color challenge of Navy, White, and Silver!  The other designers always have amazing inspiration up at the blog for you, if you're interested in popping over.  Here's a peek at my project...

The navy and silver striped pattern on my little treat package (tissue roll) and matching note card was created using borders from the new Holiday Wishes set from Precious Remembrance.  You can pop on over to the blog for all the details of how it was made!
Have a great weekend!!!
~geri~

I've got a list a mile long of things that need to get done today, but I just couldn't get my heart into it until I got a couple cards created.  Unfortunately, I've found myself in need of several sympathy cards.  And, if there's a card I hate to purchase, it's a sympathy card...just can't stand some of that wording.  My high-schooler has a couple great young teachers who've both suffered significant loss recently.  I so appreciate their passion for their jobs, and compassion for their students, that I really want them to know my son appreciates it, too, and that we're thinking of them.  I'm hoping those hand-delivered thoughts might brighten their day...

My own heart has certainly been heavy the last week with news of illness and horrible tragedy within our small community.  I wanted these cards to reflect that, with all my heart...I am praying, and will continue to pray for healing in these situations.  Sometimes it's all we can do, and I hope that these gals will be comforted in knowing that...while life continues to roll along...they remain in our hearts and in our prayers...

Considering the ages of these two young ladies...I wanted the cards to be a little more CAS and trendy, so I kept the colors simple and the lines clean...

I used some beautiful inspiration from the Simon Says Blog Hop, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They're releasing a new die that's a simple curved edge...I mean really simple...yet it adds such a special and fresh touch to the designers' cards.  I used an old cutting system to get my curves, since I don't have the die...one symmetrical and one asymmetrical, as you can see.  I love the Studio Calico veneer frames I just picked up from JoAnn's of all places...delighted to see them there...better late than never.  I knew all kinds of things would look sweet in them, and for these cards, I used them with that little heart from my Simon Says 'Lot's of Hearts' set again.  I only wish I would have had that gorgeous woodgrain cardstock they carry...my PTI woodgrain impression, here, has a larger look than I would like for these small embellishments...but I'm still happy with the texture it adds to the card.

And now the to-do list awaits...but my heart does feel much better!  In the long run, maybe that will help!
Thanks so much for stopping!

~geri~

First of all, if you're finding yourself getting antsy about Christmas crafting, you may want to check out my earlier post from today, HERE.  You'll find the current Festive Friday challenge there and a new holiday set from Precious Remembrance, along with a chance to win it!

A new challenge begins today at FUSION!!!...

Now remember...you've got 3 options here...the photo, the sketch, or a combination of both inspirations for your project.  I often tend to 'fuse' the two, I must admit...and that's what I've done today...although it's not a strict translation of the sketch.  Here's my focal point...

I did a little stamping with some Neat & Tangled stamps on some Simple Stories bookprint...that's ever-so-subtle...but definitely adds interest...

...and I've stamped another little cloud to drop down under my panel that helps to create a sweet little space for my heart  (Simon Says--Lots of Hearts) and the sweet thoughts dripping down;).  And that's it...very simple in design, and maybe a little quirky...but I really kinda like it! And I have to say, I love that little Neat and Tangled set!!!  The font is so cute and cheery and is separate from the cloud, which also doubles as a speech bubble--there are some separate tiny bubbles to add when using it that way...OH...I'm just gonna go find it for you!!!

Here it is...Just Thinking of You...

See what I mean???  Is that not CUTE?!?!  May as well go grab the cute Simon Says set to share...another keeper with so many cute options, and dies that match...

(And now I'm off track!!!  Back to the challenge...)

We would love to see what you would do with the inspiration!  You'll find more projects by the team to inspire you if you're interested...so click on the links below, or pop on over to the blog where you can see the rest of the challenge details, along with winners from the last challenge!  You have almost two weeks to create!!!  Hope to see you in the gallery!!!

Thanks for your visit today!!!

~geri~

Kelly Griglione

Amy Tsuruta

Stacey Schafer

Lyndal Higgins

Lynn Mangan